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[#] Wed Apr 16 2014 01:35:00 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

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So I was wandering through a mall today, and I noticed that the Microsoft Store is an *exact* copy of the Apple Store.

Except for one difference:

The Apple Store actually had customers in it.

[#] Wed Apr 16 2014 12:40:20 UTC from fleeb

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<rimshot>

[#] Thu Apr 17 2014 05:18:26 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

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It's true. And as far as I can tell, it's true everywhere, all the time.
Microsoft must be losing tons of money on those stores. They're so desperate to become a hip consumer brand, but their consumer products are utter crap that nobody wants.

They've got a new CEO whose name isn't Gates or Ballmer. If he wants to turn the company around he should discontinue the phones and tablets, sell off the xBox division (which is still losing money btw), close the stores, and focus on making their productivity titles available on platforms people actually *use*.

The reason they group all of that crap into one business unit is so they can pretend to show a profit. That revenue includes the $2,000,000,000 they bring in each year by extorting Android device makers with junk patents.

[#] Thu Apr 17 2014 12:27:10 UTC from fleeb

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Well, Microsoft has a bit of a problem.

They have this operating system to support that doesn't really require much by way of updates (as people's reluctance to move away from XP shows) but still costs them money to maintain. They desparately want to move into some other market that has growth, but don't really have the credibility to pull it off as their past gaffs have shown. Culturally, I suspect they're still resting on the laurels of their past achievements (Office and OSes, if you want to call those achievements... I suppose fiscally they are), so they aren't really thinking well about innovation.

So, yeah. I guess they try to enter a market, flail, then try something else. They have the money to coast for a good while doing that kind of thing, but eventually they need to pull their head out of their ass and do something useful for consumers.

[#] Thu Apr 17 2014 15:21:59 UTC from vince-q

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So, yeah. I guess they try to enter a market, flail, then try
something else. They have the money to coast for a good while doing
that kind of thing, but eventually they need to pull their head out of

their ass and do something useful for consumers.


I've been waiting for them to do that for roughly the past 38 years...

"The day Microsoft makes something that *doesn't* suck will be the day they start making vacuum cleaners."

[#] Thu Apr 17 2014 17:08:39 UTC from wizard of aahz

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"The day Microsoft makes something that *doesn't* suck will be the day

they start making vacuum cleaners."

<laughs>

[#] Thu Apr 17 2014 20:35:56 UTC from zooer

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What would you go to the mall for? That is horrible.

[#] Fri Apr 18 2014 01:31:43 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

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Malls tend to have elevators.

[#] Fri Apr 18 2014 12:19:55 UTC from fleeb

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they're also a great place to observe behavior.

[#] Wed Apr 23 2014 17:32:17 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

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...such as the behavior of people attracted to shiny things in the Apple store and ignoring hundreds of square feet of complete crap in the Microsoft store.

I also saw the looks we were getting from some of the teenagers there, who couldn't quite figure out why my 14-year-old was carrying around a teddy bear.

[#] Mon Apr 28 2014 11:38:24 UTC from the_mgt

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A funny thing I noticed is that "used" Win7 and Office2010 licenses become so cheap, that it beats the risk of pirating one. Of course MS does not like that, but nobody likes their Win8 and 365 shyte.

And the hotlines for getting a downgrade activation code for a Win8 key, in order to actually make use of a computer instead smashing it with a hammer are so bizarre, it seems they directly connect you into some Philip K. Dick novel.



[#] Mon Apr 28 2014 16:57:31 UTC from triLcat

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Hate to Apple bash here, but dang, my dad insists that if my mom gets a smartphone, she should get an iPhone.
1. She has an iPad and iPod Touch and hates the file-transfer/iTunes system - she's much more comfortable with a normal file-transfer system, where you transfer your music, docs, etc by filename into folders
2. She is technically inclined
3. You pay like 2x as much for the same power as in an Android...

The thing is that my dad barely knows how to use a computer or an iPad, and won't touch her Symbian phone (Nokia 5800, which was actually a very good phone for its era) 
Everyone who has talked to them about it and knows my mom says Android.

But my dad wants "the set"

Annoying. 



[#] Mon Apr 28 2014 17:12:51 UTC from fleeb

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Heh, perhaps someone should get your father the iPhone and let your mother use a real phone.

[#] Mon Apr 28 2014 18:11:20 UTC from the_mgt

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The thought that my mom now owns an android smart phone the size of a weapon of mass destruction makes me sick. Somebody advised her to buy it, but nobody told her how to use it. Guess who has to connect it to her computer, guess who has to tell her the basics. Guess who is shocked by the price for her mobile plan, guess who can not believe that they got her a t-mobile phone preloaded with crapware for which you would have needed the cpu power of all the 1990s supercomputers combined.

My mom is the user for which mac minis and iphones were developed. She should get a restraining order from any major file browser in the world.

Guess who recently deleted most of the photos stored on her computer because "they are already in the image gallery program". This is the reason why iPhoto hides the images in one big folder, why the iTunes library is "hidden" in the depth of your Music folder.

I am convinced that 95% of all computer users should never have to mess around with files.



[#] Mon Apr 28 2014 19:18:37 UTC from triLcat

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My mom's been a computer user since 1983. 
She's used Dos commands, Unix, the whole bit.

She used Type-it-All on our TRS-80, and even did some rudimentary programming. 


She does more with her Nokia 5800 than most people do with their iPhones. 

In her case, Android is a good option. 



[#] Mon Apr 28 2014 19:57:45 UTC from fleeb

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Yeah, my former boss and I noted that people who were uncomfortable around computers should use iPhones. Those phones are made for those guys. Don't worry about that man behind the curtain... that sort of thing.

But for the rest of us, the Android is the better phone. Very flexible, and you can do damned near anything you might care to do with it.

[#] Mon Apr 28 2014 23:22:28 UTC from Ladyhawke

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I still love my keyboard, even if my thumbs don't.



[#] Tue Apr 29 2014 02:01:39 UTC from mo

Subject: Gary Kildall honored by IEEE

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Did anyone see, the IEEE honored Gary Kildall  last week, for his achievements?

 

http://news.cs.washington.edu/2014/01/25/ieee-to-honor-uw-cse-alumnus-gary-kildall-with-milestone/

 

Check outthe facebook page also. :)



[#] Tue Apr 29 2014 02:11:28 UTC from mo

Subject: Re: Gary Kildall honored by IEEE

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I should add:

(if your curious about what's on the paper tape? :) )

 

"Legacy of Gary Kildall - Event April 25, 2014"

(photo and quote from above facebook page)

"Gary Kildall’s gift to the world of personal computing was
celebrated yesterday when President-Elect Howard Michel of
the IEEE cut the punched paper tape to unveil a plaque
commemorating “The CP/M Microcomputer Operating System – 1974.”
Close to 150 friends, family, IEEE officers, Asilomar
Microcomputer Workshop participants, NPS personnel, DRI alumni,
and local citizens and dignitaries braved the stormy skies of
appropriately Seattle and “Navy” weather to dedicate this
important Milestone in computing history. The message on the tape,
"This may have been one of the most exciting days of my life,
except of course when I visited Niagara Falls one day," was a
favorite expression of Gary's."

 



[#] Tue Apr 29 2014 14:40:30 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

Subject: Re: Gary Kildall honored by IEEE

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Does it do its due diligence in helping to bust the myth that Kildall "blew off IBM" when they were shopping for an operating system? (The real reason IBM went with QDOS is because Bill Gates' mom had an inside contact there.)

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